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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24295210">Flower Petals</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookDragon13/pseuds/BookDragon13'>BookDragon13</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Bucky Barnes Bingo [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel Cinematic Universe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hanahaki Disease, Light Angst</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 01:35:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>863</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24295210</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookDragon13/pseuds/BookDragon13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky’s been coughing up flowers and the only cure is if you love him back</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James "Bucky" Barnes/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Bucky Barnes Bingo [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1753912</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Bucky Barnes Bingo 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Flower Petals</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Title: Flower Petals<br/>Collaborator(s): BookDragon13/writing-what-writing<br/>Link:<br/>Square Filled: K5-Hanahaki Disease<br/>Ship/Main Pairing: Bucky/Reader<br/>Rating: Gen <br/>Major Tags/Triggers/Warnings: very light angst (since angst usually comes with this trope), it’s happy by the end I promise<br/>Summary: Bucky’s been coughing up flowers and the only cure is if you love him back<br/>Word Count: 863</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bucky coughed up another bouquet of petals. Daisies, sunflowers, forget-me-nots, lilies, white tulips… Natasha watched with a look of disapproval as he coughed. She knew exactly what caused Bucky to be in this pain. Or who, really.</p><p>“Oh my god, just tell her how you feel.” </p><p>“What? No! I can’t do that!” Bucky exclaimed. “She doesn’t love me back!”</p><p>Nat pinned him with her “you’re an idiot” glare. Ugh, that glare should not look so familiar. Bucky managed a grin, despite the ache in his lungs from the flowers pressing in them.</p><p>“Wouldn’t it be the most ironic death? I can see the headlines now- ‘the Winter Soldier dies from coughing up springtime flowers.’ I know Sam would get a laugh from that!”</p><p>A roll of Nat’s eyes and her scowl wiped Bucky’s smile away. He knew she was right, but there was no way he wanted to admit it. So now he’d have to deal with another lecture about dying via flowers growing in his lungs because he was too much of a coward to ask the woman he loved if she loved him in return.</p><p>“If you’re gonna die anyway, wouldn’t it be worth at least telling her how you feel? Then at least she’d know the reason why there’s flower petals everywhere! Besides, I can see that this is affecting you far more than you let on.”</p><p>Bucky sighed. Nat was right. He needed to tell her. Even if it meant he could die- he was dying anyways. And if she loved him back, it would be worth living for.</p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>More petals. They were beautiful, but you wondered where they came from. You knew Tony loved getting flowers for Pepper, but you could tell these petals weren’t from those bouquets. The flowers would be too simple in Tony’s mind. Except for maybe the tulips. Besides, neither Pepper or Tony would leave the bouquets in the common rooms long enough for their petals to fall off, especially in the amounts that were piled up. </p><p>You scooped up the petals, putting them in the plastic bag you’d saved to put any petals you saw since you started noticing the piles. There was no particular reason you saved them, other than a feeling that they were important. Besides, they made a nice smell as you pressed them into the scrapbook you had. (Again, no reason you could name for that.)</p><p>Then you noticed Bucky watching you with a strange expression. You smiled as if you weren’t just doing something weird and went over to him, giving Bucky a hug.</p><p>“How’re you doing, Bucky?” You asked.</p><p>“I… I’m…” Bucky couldn’t let any words out. He’d always wondered what happened to the petals after, but he never expected you to be saving them, as if they were something special. Finally, Bucky blurted out, “I’m in love with you!”</p><p>You froze, not expecting that to come out of Bucky’s mouth. But a feeling of relief and joy went through you, knowing that he returned how you felt. Quickly, you gave Bucky a kiss on the cheek.</p><p>“Well thank goodness for that, because I love you too. As more than a friend or teammate.”</p><p>Bucky sighed in relief before kissing you full on the lips. The pain was suddenly gone from his lungs, as well as his heart. He wasn’t dying any more! Bucky could feel as if the flowers were finally floating away. You pulled back, a little too soon for either you or Bucky’s liking.</p><p>“You smell like flowers. Are you the reason for all the flower petals lying around?”</p><p>A blush creeped over Bucky’s face as he nodded. He explained that a few missions back, when the Avengers were dealing with a group of evil sorcerers, one of them cursed Bucky to cough up flower petals until he either had his love returned or he died from the flowers growing in his lungs. As sad as that curse was, you couldn’t help but giggle a little.</p><p>“That’s ironic, isn’t it? The Winter Soldier surrounded by flowers because of love?”</p><p>Bucky laughed. “That’s exactly what I told Nat when she was urging me to tell you! It’s no wonder I love you.”</p><p>You shivered in appreciation of hearing those three words leaving Bucky’s mouth. Then you tugged on Bucky’s hand, leading him to your room. </p><p>“I want to show you something,” you said as you pulled out the petal scrapbook. Bucky felt like he was melting when he saw it. Slowly, gently, he brushed his fingers over the dried petals.</p><p>“This looks amazing.”</p><p>You smiled at him. “I felt like these were important, so I wanted to save them. I’m glad I did.”</p><p>Bucky looked at you and smiled softly. “You were able to make something beautiful out of something that had been painful. Kind of a metaphor for my life, isn’t it?”</p><p>“And that’s why I love you, Bucky,” you told him. “You took all the pain and sadness in your life and turned it into something beautiful, rather than becoming bitter.”</p><p>“Thank goodness for that, because without it I wouldn’t have you.”</p><p>Bucky kisses you again, the scent of flowers filling the air.</p>
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